Knowledge of computers and Information Technology is essential in the modern world. Moreover, computer programs can now provide the most powerful teaching aids ever devised, at a cost far less than even the cheapest textbooks. Teaching aids and texts in local languages can be provided much more cheaply on disk than in print.
Through the Internet schools can now link into what is in effect the greatest reference library there has ever been - and without political or other censorship. They can also use the Internet to establish links with other schools in their own country and world-wide. But for this schools need modern computers, which developing countries cannot afford. We are working with some of the poorest countries in the world. A crucial factor keeping these countries poor is the acute skills shortage in the labour markets. However, state run schools lack the resources to offer training in the IT skills increasingly demanded by business and the global economy. Most pupils lack the basic IT skills necessary for any professional or clerical job application. For instance, before our project began, 99% of secondary school students in the region where we’re operating left school without any experience of using a computer.
As a consequence of this deprivation, youth unemployment is very high. Our projects are giving state school pupils the opportunity to get IT experience that they would otherwise never have had. Having some computer skills gives state school leavers more chance of finding jobs. 3 years ago in countries such as Ghana, very few people had any computer skills and you rarely saw computers in the towns. Now Internet cafes are springing up, partly at least because school leavers do now have some IT experience. Our aim is to provide computer labs for virtually every state and mission secondary school in Ghana.
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